3 Jan 2018

Moving to One Nap A Day…Some Benchmarks

by | posted in: Babywise, Preparation for Parenting, Sleep Training, Toddlers & Preschoolers | 0

 

Nap transitions with babies are one of those areas that requires observation and careful evaluation.  Below are some of the things that were going on with our little ones that helped us determine when to move to one nap per day.

 

  • One of the two daily naps didn’t produce much sleep

 

Two 2-hour naps are the norm among Babywise/Prep for Parenting babies starting at about the 9-10 month mark: one nap in the morning and one in the afternoon.  When you are nearing this nap transition, it could be either the morning or the afternoon nap that becomes shorter and/or doesn’t seem to produce much sleep.  The child who previously took good naps will either play in his crib during his nap period or perhaps cry or fuss to get Mom or Dad’s attention.  When the transition to one nap is getting near, many times Babywise/PFP babies will be awake playing, singing, or otherwise self-entertaining in the crib for the duration of the nap time with little to no sleep.  Recognizing that this is happening regularly could be a signal that perhaps one longer nap will work just fine.

 

  • Sleep at bedtime takes awhile

 

Obviously it can happen occasionally that it takes longer than usual for your little one to fall asleep at bedtime.  When this happens as a general rule though, you want to evaluate if the child is getting too much daytime sleep or if that second nap of the day is happening too close to bedtime.  When you move to one nap, that nap will take place around mid-day … usually immediately after an early lunch.  The length of the one nap will now be 2-3 hours, and sometimes even longer. (It’s heart-wrenching to wake a sleeping child, and if your little one is sleeping soundly, he obviously needs the sleep.)  So if baby is still sleeping soundly at 3 hrs., it’s okay to let him sleep longer as long as that doesn’t have a negative effect on his nighttime sleep.

 

  • With only one nap, your child has a pleasant day

 

On occasion when you happen to miss one of your little one’s naps, and the day still goes well, with little to no fussing or signs of being over-tired, it’s possible your little one might be getting close to moving to one nap per day.

 

Remember to be sure you are truly seeing signs that it’s time to move to one nap before you make the move, otherwise you might end up with a fussy baby everyday.  Babies/toddlers are learning and discovering new things very rapidly and their little minds sometimes have a hard time settling to sleep, even though they really need it.  If that’s the case, your little one will still take two naps well for at least a few days out of the week.  When you notice that more consistently your little one plays through a nap (i.e. 5 or more days/week), it’s likely time to begin the transition to one nap.

 

Make the move slowly, as opposed to all at once.  My babies stayed with two naps until they were 15-18 months old; the time varied per child.  Evaluate the above signs for 2-3 weeks.  Observing your child’s patterns will give you the appropriate guidance to know whether you should move to one nap or stick with two for a few more months.

 

 

Karen Kurtz is a mom of 4 Babywise/Prep for Parenting babies.  All of them slept through the night as prescribed in the Ezzo’s parenting books.  As a Contact Mom, Karen enjoys helping other parents train their babies and children.  Karen and her husband, Don, make their home in NE Ohio and all four babies are now young adults. 

 

 

27 Dec 2017

Sleep Challenges … Related to the Environment

by | posted in: Babies, Babywise, Sleep Training | 0

 

In our fourth and final installment of this series, we’ll look at some potential environment related contributors to Baby waking early.

  1. Baby is not being exposed to adequate amounts of daylight – Natural light is important to help babies regulate their circadian clock. This is the inner clock, the biological time-keeping system that regulates daily activities, such as sleep and wake cycles.  We recommend that as soon as your baby awakens in the morning, you take him to a room filled with daylight.  Natural light, along with the first feeding of the day will help establish his circadian rhythm and keep it consistent.
  2. Baby’s room is not dark enough – This is one of the most overlooked reasons for a sudden occurrence of Baby waking early and one of the easiest to fix. While newborns can sleep just about anywhere and under any conditions, the “light sensitivity” begins to change after three months of age.  Depending on the direction the baby’s room faces, the sun’s light can impact a baby’s naps.  Like most adults, babies tend to sleep better and longer if the room is darkened.  Shades or curtains are the simple solution.
  3. Baby is over-stimulated in the crib because of wind-up toys that were turned on when he was put down for a nap – All those fun baby gifts can be a problem. Mobiles are entertaining, but when set up too early and activated just before naptime, they can be a source of over-stimulation.  Some babies cannot neurologically handle particular types of stimulation created by movement and sound.
  4. When your baby reaches four to six months of age, he could be waking up in response to familiar sounds in his home – This condition is created when two time-elements cross. The baby’s circadian clock has him moving out of deep sleep into active sleep close to the time a familiar sound occurs each day.  As he approaches four months, he develops the ability to associate sounds with activities and people.  Once he makes the association, he becomes more alert and the sound can trigger an awake mode.  It could be the familiar sound of school bus brakes or a garage door opening.  Both signal the arrival of someone, perhaps an entertaining sibling or fun-loving Dad.  While many babies will fall back to sleep, others are ready to fight off sleep in exchange for the next big adventure.
  5. Unknown – What does this mean? Simply that a reason exists but it is so unique to your baby’s situation that it is not easily duplicated by other babies.  Keep looking for clues, ask questions, or invite an experienced PDF mom over for part of the day to observe you and your baby.

This concludes our series on sleep challenges.  If you have further questions, please contact us and we’ll put you in touch with an experience mom who can help  you.

 

Excerpt taken from On Becoming Babywise by pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. and Gary Ezzo, M.A.  (2017 6th Edition).

13 Dec 2017

Sleep Challenges … Related to Activities

by | posted in: Babies, Babywise, Sleep Training | 0

 

In part three of our series, we’ll look at some potential waketime activities that can contribute to Baby waking early:

  1. Previous waketime was too short – There will always be days when a baby’s routine will have some variance impacting the length of waketimes. However, if a baby’s waketime is routinely too short for his age, then naptimes will be disrupted.  While sleep is very important to a baby’s development, there are limits to the amount of sleep a baby requires in a 24-hour period.  The “sleep center” in a baby’s brain will begin to send an “awake signal” if there is too much sleep in a 24-hour period.  One such signal is waking early from one or all naps.  Parents should attempt to adjust their baby’s schedule to allow for longer waketimes.
  2. Previous waketime was over–stimulating to baby because:
    1. The waketime was too long, thus promoting fatigue rather than sleepiness – Waketimes affect naps just like naps affect waketimes. Over-tired and over-stimulated babies become hyper-alert, fighting off sleep through crying.  If this is a regular problem, shortening your baby’s waketime by 15-minute increments might help.
    2. The waketime activity was too over-stimulating – Be aware of the types of activities you and your baby are involved in. Are you having too many visitors drop by who have an irresistible urge to entertain your baby?  Was your baby being exposed to Dad’s loud friends as they sat watching a sporting event?
    3. Baby’s overall routine has too much flexibility – Might Mom be on the go too much? When Baby is along for the ride, the coming and going, the new sights and sounds, and the absence of predictability all work against good nap behavior.  That is because catnaps in a car seat are no substitute for a full nap in a crib.  An occasional nap in the car seat will not cause trouble, but it should not be the norm, especially during the first six months of your baby’s life.
  3. First feeding of the day has too much flexibility – When attempting to establish a feed-wake-sleep plan, parents must determine the first feeding of the day and try to stay as consistent as they can. Without a consistent first-morning feeding, a mother can and will be feeding every 3 hours, but each day has a different rhythm.  That will work against stabilizing the baby’s hunger metabolism and will eventually affect the length of baby’s naptime.
  4. The three activities of Baby’s day are out of order – Mom has baby on a wake-feed-sleep schedule instead of feed-wake-sleep Inadequate waketimes lead to insufficient sleep, resulting in shorter naptimes; shorter naps lead to inefficient feedings, and from there, everything falls apart.  That is why feedings, in the early months, should follow after naps and not waketimes.

 

Excerpt taken from On Becoming Babywise by pediatrician Robert Bucknam, M.D. and Gary Ezzo, M.A.  (2017 6th Edition).

10 Dec 2017

Santa or No Santa

by | posted in: Holidays | 0

 

To Santa or not to Santa…that is the question that plagues many parents this time of year.  As the youngest of four children, I never stood a chance of believing in Santa Claus.  Let’s face it, the further you are down the line, the less likely it is your family will maintain such a big secret for your enjoyment too.  Maybe that is why when we had children I did not feel compelled to perpetuate the myth of Santa.  Well, there is that and the whole it’s-basically-lying-to-your—kids thing.  I say that without judgment for those of you who have made the decision to include Santa in your Christmas celebration.  I know many wonderful families that love their Santa traditions and I do not condemn them for it in any way.  To be clear, we never completed excluded Santa at Christmastime.  We just did not perpetuate the myth of Santa. We made the choice not to include the myth of Santa as a truth, because we did not feel comfortable telling our children something false.  In case you are wondering if I have scarred my children for life, I asked them how they felt about being raised in a home where Santa was always known to be only a myth.  All three of my adult children told me they were glad we told them the truth from the beginning.  So, why would you include Santa then?

 

The number one reason many families include Santa in their Christmas celebration is that it is fun.  I cannot argue with that.  Absolutely it is fun!  The idea that there is this grandpa-like character living in the North Pole with his minion of elves building special toys for each of your children is pretty fantastic.  Parents, do you realize if this was true how much less work we would have to do at Christmastime?  No budgeting for presents.  No shopping.  No hiding presents.  No wrapping presents.  We could go to bed on Christmas Eve and wake up to fully-filled stockings and presents around the tree.  That is a fantasy I could really get behind…if it were true.

 

The second reason many families include Santa in their Christmas celebration is the magic and wonder of it all.  It sounds like Disneyland, right?  Santa and the North Pole.  The place where every day is Christmas, you eat Christmas goodies all year long, and being good means a present for you in the end.  Yeah, I am pretty sure we call that Disneyland today.  Children are by nature filled with wonder and awe.  They are so fun to watch at Christmastime (or Disneyland).  Their eyes light up when they see Santa at the mall, or when they find a present under the tree with their name on it.  Those kinds of wonder and awe moments fade as we age.  As adults, we long to hold on to those childlike moments for our kids for as long as possible. There is nothing wrong with that.  But it is not reality.  It is Disneyland.

 

If Santa is fun and if Santa brings child-like wonder, why would parents wish to exclude Santa from Christmas?  Why did I choose to exclude the myth of Santa from Christmas?  Is it perhaps that as parents we already know what the Grinch had to learn?  “Maybe Christmas he thought doesn’t come from a store.  Maybe Christmas perhaps-means a little bit more.” Let’s pause here for a moment and appreciate that I am sharing parenting advice from the Grinch!  But, he is right.  There is nothing inherently evil about Santa.  I certainly did not exclude the myth of Santa for that reason.  No, Santa can be a fun addition to your Christmas celebration. Even in our family, Santa was not completely excluded.  We still watched Christmas movies that included Santa or sang Christmas songs about Santa.  It was never Santa that we opposed.  It was the presentation of a myth as truth that we removed from our Christmas celebration.  It was allowing Santa to take center stage that we did not want in our home.  The real question for us and for you is whether or not to make Santa the focus of your Christmas celebration.  Christmas doesn’t come from Santa.  Christmas doesn’t come from a store.  Christmas comes because of the One for who it is named.  Christmas comes because Christ came, as a baby, fully God and fully man.  His birth was miraculous.  Dare I say His birth was filled with awe and wonder.  While Jesus Christ is not a grandpa-like character living up North, He is The all-knowing God.  He lives in an amazing place where there is no pain and suffering. We can share in His gift to us without budgets, shopping, buying, or wrapping anything.  His gift of eternal life to us is free for our choosing.  Yes, indeed, Mr. Grinch, Christmas does mean a little bit more.

 

I cannot tell you what is best for your family when it comes to Santa.  You have to decide how you want to handle Santa in your family.  For us, we found a balance between some of the fun parts with Santa but keeping our focus on Christ as the true meaning of Christmas.  Do I think your children will be scarred for life if you incorporate Santa into your Christmastime celebration?  Well, does it matter what I think or does it matter what you think?  Much like Shakespeare’s question of “To be or not to be”, to Santa or not to Santa is a question each person must answer for themselves.

Tricia McDonald is the wife of a newly retired Army Sergeant Major and a mother of three amazing children, ages 17, 18, and 22.  She recently gained a wonderful son-in-law as well.  She currently resides in North Carolina, where she homeschools her two youngest kids.  Tricia enjoys reading and is passionate about U.S. History.  She also volunteers as the music coordinator for a local semi-professional youth theatre group.  She would like to encourage young moms to enjoy each moment, as the years really do fly by quickly.
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